Developing smartphone-based infrared spectrometer for on-site soil nutrients sensing in low and middle-income countries (LMICs)

全球粮食挑战是地球面临的最大威胁，因为预计到2050年世界人口将增加35%以上。为了养活这些人口，粮食生产的增长速度必须超过人口增长速度，以实现可持续的和平与稳定，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家，那里80%以上的人口依靠农业为生，数百万人无法获得粮食，生产力非常低。因此，该项目将开发一种低成本的基于智能手机的红外光谱仪，用于现场测量土壤养分，旨在为资源有限的环境提供可持续的农业，食品和营养，并减轻气候变化对生态系统的影响。该项目的技术创新是，我们将使用光学光刻技术设计和制造不同红外波长的可转动光电二极管，用于土壤基质中的特定分子振动。然后，光电二极管将取代使用非常昂贵的材料和设计来制造大体积红外光谱仪的需要。我们的新技术将取代使用实验室方法进行土壤养分分析的需要，这种方法非常昂贵，费力，耗时，同时解决了LMIC中实验室和设备有限的问题，从而减少农民面临的风险和不确定性。通过这种方式，发达国家和低收入国家农民之间的巨大差距将得到解决，因为并非所有农民都能通过土壤测试设施获得同样的收入。同样，将开发用于光谱采集和处理的智能手机应用程序，以使该技术更加用户友好和技术可行。该项目属于EPRSC的分析科学研究领域。在开发和实地评估阶段，我们将与剑桥大学、全球平等中心（CGE）和国家农业植物研究所（NIAB）的各种研究小组/中心合作。

The global food challenge is the biggest danger to the planet, as the world population is projected to increase by more than 35% in 2050. To feed that population, food production must be increased at a greater pace than the population growth to have sustainable peace and stability, particularly in low and medium-income countries where the livelihood of more than 80% of the population depends on agriculture, food is not accessible for millions of people and productivity is very low. Therefore, this project will develop a low-cost smartphone-based infrared spectrometer for on-site measurements of soil nutrients, aiming to provide sustainable agriculture, food, and nutrition in resource-limited settings and mitigate the impact of climate change on the ecosystem. The technical innovation of the project is that we will use optical lithography to design and fabricate turn-able photodiodes to different infrared wavelengths for specific molecular vibrations in the soil matrix. Then, the photodiodes will replace the need to use very expensive materials and design for fabricating bulk infrared spectrometers. Our new technology will replace the need for using a laboratory method for soil nutrients analysis that is very costly, laborious, and time-consuming and at the same time solve the issues of the limited access to laboratories and equipment in LMICs, thereby reducing farmers' exposure to risks and uncertainties. In this way, massive disparities between farmers in developed countries and low-income countries will be addressed since not all farmers are equally advantaged via soil testing facilities. Similarly, smartphone application will be developed for spectral acquisition, and processing in order to make the technology more user friendly and technically viable. The project is under the analytical science research area of the EPRSC. We will collaborate with various research groups/centres at the University of Cambridge, Centre for Global Equality (CGE), and National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) during the development and field evaluation phase.